The Locket

My adopted daughter bounced down the stairs a few weeks ago holding on to a rusty, picture locket.  “Mommy, mommy, I want to show you my necklace.  It has my Mom and Dad’s picture in it.”  I struggled to find a response, not sure whether to be offended, angry, or sad.  I breathed a quick, “Dear Lord, help me on this one.”  Immediately, I  understood that my feelings didn’t matter.  My child wanted to share her life with me.  “Sure, let me see,” I said, like it was no big thing.

I was not prepared for the pictures in the locket.  Braced for the worse, I looked into the faces of the people that abandoned my daughter.  Instead of anger, I blinked to hold back my tears.  The attached photo shows you what I saw.

The Locket

My heart broke for my child as I looked at the small, pencil-sketched faces, crudely torn from notebook paper, and placed into the old necklace.  I asked my daughter more about the pictures and she said, “I just had to draw them so I wouldn’t forget them.”  As I continued to talk to her, I found out that the picture of the woman was not even her biological mother, but the girlfriend of the dad.  She said she didn’t remember the biological mother, but she remembered his last girlfriend and was sure that they were married now.  The two of us spent some time talking about her family and the faces in the locket.  She was with them until the age of seven, so she remembered many things about them.  I will never forget this time with her.  As she ran off to get ready for the pool, she remarked that even if they forgot her, she would not forget them.

I admire my daughter’s strength.  She has no idea I’m sharing her story, but I will let her read this when she is older.  I will continue to pray for her and my family and hope that we all realize and remember that the Lord will never forget us.  With some prayer help, I found Psalm 27:10 that relates well to this post.  I have since shared the verse with my daughter and other adopted children.  It applies to all of us and I wanted to share it with you.  In fact, when you have some time, try to read all of Psalm 27.  It’s powerful.

Psalm 27:10 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
¹⁰ Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD cares for me.

There’s also a great song that follows this thought by Israel Houghtan, titled “You Are Not Forgotten” and it’s from his A Deeper Level album.  A cut of the lyrics is below:

You are precious to me
I’m the One, I’m the One
Who sees your heart
You are not forgotten
Just remember…you are not forgotten.

God bless you and I hope that you come to realize the deep and abiding love of our Savior.